Between Clay and Dust

Before the Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Ustad Ramzi was a famed wrestler, renowned for his enormous strength and unmatched technique. But Ramzi's physical prowess is on the wane in later years, while his reckless younger brother Tamami is hungry for glory and eager to take on his brother's mantle. In another part of the city is the courtesan Gohar Jan, who was once celebrated for her beauty and the seductive power of her singing. Gohar Jan's world is changing, too, and the rarified fire of the courtesans is in danger of being extinguished by an increasingly intolerant state.

As their world crumbles around them, Ustad Ramzi and Gohar Jan stand resolute against the catastrophe of change, with willpower their only protection. But to what lengths will they go to protect their traditions? Shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, Musharraf Ali Farooqi's artfully wrought novel Between Clay and Dust is an arresting account of love, honor, strength, betrayal, and the ways in which we wrestle with history.

Reviews

"The book works like an ache in the heart, evoking cultures and values that, while not necessarily perfect, represented something larger than the self...A story that purports to be about decay resounds with the stuff of life. This is a book to be savoured like a fine single malt." - Forbes India

"This is the most poignant, the most subtle, the most moving novel I have read in the past few years from this, or any, region. A natural storyteller, Farooqi imagines a world we thought we were familiar with and then pulls the rug out from under our feet." - The Caravan Magazine

Musharraf Ali Farooqi is an author, novelist, and translator. He was born in 1968 in Hyderabad, Pakistan, and now divides his time between Toronto and Karachi. His acclaimed novel, Between Clay and Dust, was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize and longlisted for the 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. He is the author of Pakistan's first children's book in English, and a critically acclaimed translator of Urdu classics, The Adventures of Amir Hamza, and the first book of a projected 24-volume magical fantasy epic, Hoshruba.